Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“What?”
“You heard me. Invite her over. Let’s…let’s hang out with someone. Be a normal couple. I want to give you that. I want to give us that.”
It’s things like this that made me fall for Hunter in the first place. He’s always thinking of others. He’s looking for ways to make people happy and do what’s right, sometimes to his detriment. He can try too hard and hurt himself in his efforts to protect others, but it always comes from a good place.
“Okay.” I smile. “She’d like that.” I pick up my phone and call her.
Isla answers right away. “If it isn’t my best friend who hardly has time for me anymore. What did I do to earn his phone call? That asshole better not have hurt you.”
“I didn’t!” Hunter calls out, making Isla and me realize he can hear her. “I promise.”
“Oh shit,” she says. “Warn a girl next time.”
“I didn’t know he could hear you either. I actually called because Hunter would like me to invite you to his house tonight for dinner.”
“I’ll be there in like thirty.”
“That’s not dinner, you brat.”
“Ugh. Fine. What time should I come over?”
I look at Hunter. He shrugs and says, “Three? We can hang out for a while.”
“Three it is,” Isla replies.
“Do the two of you just want to talk?” I ask.
“Oh, we’ll talk,” Isla says. “In fact, I might talk to him all day. Don’t be mad at me if I ignore you, babe.”
I chuckle. “I won’t. I’ll text you his address.”
“See you soon. Love you.”
“I love you too,” I tell her, then end the call. “Thank you…and sorry about that.”
“You don’t have to apologize. She cares about you, and I do too.”
*
I’m so excited for this. No one in my family has ever met Isla. Bringing friends home was never really my thing. Of course, I did when I was young, but the older I got, the less it happened. My parents never liked my friends, not the way they did Ellis’s, and I never wanted anyone around my father so he could use them to try and get me to do what he wanted—Can you believe Lucas? Throwing all that talent away. I bet you would play, wouldn’t you? And even if football was the furthest thing from what they enjoyed, they would always say yes because no one says no to Ellis Blake Sr.
Plus, being around Isla, someone who knows about Hunter and me, makes it feel more real, like it’s not only my wishful thinking or a reality I’ve created for myself that doesn’t really exist.
The doorbell rings, and I look at Hunter. He’s wearing jeans and a nice button-up that fit him well, not too tight but not too loose. Definitely dressier than my T-shirt and jeans with holes in the knees.
“Why the fuck am I nervous?” he asks.
“I don’t know. It’s just Isla.”
“She’s not just Isla to me. She’s your best friend.” He looks bashful for a moment in a way that shouldn’t be so endearing. “I want her to like me.”
“Everyone likes you. She’ll probably wonder why you like me,” I say, heading to the door.
“No. She won’t,” he says, voice all soft and sincere and landing straight in my chest.
“Shut up,” I counter, and Hunter laughs, just before I open the door.
“Hey, babe,” Isla greets me, looking beautiful as always. She’s tall and curvy, with brown skin that’s always glowing, and she wears her hair natural, in tight curls perfectly placed and twisted.
“Hey, you.” I hug her, and Isla squeezes me tightly, mouth close to my ear when she whispers, “He’s hot.”
“You’ve seen him before,” I reply, but I appreciate the support.
When we pull back, she gives Hunter the once-over. “So cute. I never knew you had a thing for good boys, Lucas.”
“I’m not a good boy,” Hunter argues, which makes him sound like he’s exactly that. As if realizing how that came across, he chuckles and shakes his head. “That sounded better in my head.”
“You’re not his type, but then, he has been in love with you forever.”
I tense. Hunter’s gaze shoots to me, holding me captive.
Isla must sense she’s just dropped a bomb on us, or maybe it’s my deer-in-headlights expression. “Oh shit,” she says. “I’m so fucking sorry. I assumed you knew. You guys are like, a thing now, and I thought you must have talked about that.” She turns to me. “I’m so sorry, babe.”
It doesn’t really change things, and if Hunter really thought about it, he probably would have realized I’ve had feelings for him all along. Regardless, there’s nothing we can do about it now.
“Are we really surprised I would be the kind of guy to have a secret crush on his brother’s boyfriend his whole life?”
“Don’t talk about yourself that way,” they say in unison, then look at each other and smile.